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Tue, 19 Jul 2016

SANGEETHA JAIRAM AND HER BMW R 25/3

Sangeetha Jairam hails from a family of BMW enthusiasts. A yoga teacher in Bangalore, she was taught to ride a bike as an adolescent by her father – on a BMW R 25/3 that she still owns.

Photo Björn Schütrumpf Words Hendrik Lakeberg

“To celebrate my motorcycle’s 60th birthday, I decided to have it completely restored,” says Sangeetha Jairam. She subsequently had the 1954 BMW R25/3 shipped from Bangalore, where she runs a yoga studio, to a specialised mechanic in Mumbai. Since its return, the R 25 gets taken out for a ride at least once a week – “For the sheer joy of it,” says Jairam, waxing lyrical about the engine’s incomparable sound.

“Back then it was cause for concern when a ‘young lady’ like me sat on a motorcycle.” Sangeetha Jairam.

She hails from a family of BMW enthusiasts. In the 1950s her now-deceased father rode the selfsame R 25 all the way from Germany to India. Jairam grew up astride the bike. Her father taught her how to ride at age 15 – against the wishes of the rest of the family. “Back then it was cause for concern when a ‘young lady’ sat on a motorcycle. It just wasn’t proper,” she says. As a 16-year-old she wrote adoring fan letters to BMW, rejoicing anew each time answering letters came back from Munich with small gifts inside.

“Motorcycles were always a part of my family and so it follows that I would begin to love them as if they were family members themselves. I’ve always owned motorcycles – my last one was a BMW F 650.” Now she’s finally back in the rider’s seat of her father’s R 25 – with a saddlebag full of fond memories of him.